Delightful experience in a Government Hospital

Yellow Fever Vaccine

I begin my much awaited journey to Savannah of Kenya in few hours. I cannot but start this journey without writing my experience in Sir JJ Hospital, Mumbai.

As I went about planning this solo trip over the last couple of months, the only thing that bothered me was the Yellow Fever Vaccine that one has to take before going to Kenya. It is tightly controlled by the Government! I dreaded to go to a Government hospital, but I had no choice! I resigned to fate and went to Sir JJ Hospital.

I walked into a Government Hospital after 22 years, I last stepped into one in Sep 1996, when I used to go to Hospitals for living!

There was a long queue to enter the OPD section. Very soon the OPD doors opened and people started moving in a systematic manner. There was a guard managing the crowd. Once we went in, there was place to sit, where I sat comfortably, as my husband stood in the queue for about 15-20 mins to get the billing done.

Post billing, we got clear directions on where to go. The place was spotlessly clean. Everyone had token numbers. I would have waited for just about 15 minutes when we were taken in as per our token numbers into a clean ventilated room. Each one of us were made to sit in specific seats as per our token numbers.

Dr. Mandar Sarawate, MD in communicable diseases, explained the procedure to us in a mix of English and Hindi. Few people had questions, he responded to them patiently. He clarified in Marathi. We were given forms to fill in, nicely mounted on a board, making it easy to write. He clearly provided step by step instruction on how to fill the form. Two assistants filled in forms for those who couldn’t write in English.

All the forms were collected as per our seating order. I realized the importance this later, I will come to that in a bit.

As we were going through these steps, two nurses were preparing the injections in next room. The whole movement to the ante room to take injection was managed in a systematic manner – which door to enter by, which door to exit and where to sit… It was absolutely meticulous.

Once we got back to our pre-allocated seats – we were given the Yellow Fever Vaccination Card, duly signed by the Dr. Mandar Sarawate. While we were asked to check our names, there was zero error. Then I knew the importance of seating order. Everything was being managed as per the token numbers and seating order. Since, they would have people who cannot read or write in English, they had to make it fool proof.

I walked out of the hospital with a yellow card in just about 90 minutes. Truly, it was a delightful experience. I was impressed by the systematic approach followed by the doctor and his staff. The processes and checklists were made to ensure zero error.

Keep up the good work JJ Hospital! Really impressed!

And those of you who need to take the Yellow Fever Vaccine, head towards Sir JJ Hospital! I will give them five star rating any day.